Egypt's Tweetback brings together activists for development on Dahab Island

Activists and development organizations came together for the second time in Egypt to help develop Cairo’s Dahab Island. The effort, in support with Coca-Cola Egypt’s Livelihood Program, which aims to develop 100 villages across the country by 2020, was a grassroots initiative to help buttress underdeveloped villages.

Dahab Island is Coca-Cola’s 4th village to receive aid and its development is being undertaken in partnership with the Egyptian Food Bank and Sonna el-Hayah, a local NGO.

Following the first Tweetback’s success in raising 1,400,000 Egyptian pounds last July to fund the work being done by Kheir wa Baraka in Ezbet Khairallah, Tweetback followed a slightly different approach this time, said organizers.

“Instead of focusing its efforts on raising donations, it used its influence to spread awareness about Geziret El Dahab [Dahab Island] and mobilize volunteers as a means to encourage a culture of leadership and volunteerism amongst the public; an objective that is very much shared by coca-Cola Egypt,” the Tweetback organizers said in a statement sent to Bikyamasr.com.

Some 250 volunteers joined forces on December 10 to kick-start the development of the island “by cleaning-up and refurbishing some of the facilities there.”

Coca-Cola Egypt also launched a special application on its facebook fan page, which has close to one million fans, to allow volunteers to register for participation.

In less than one week, 250 volunteers and 50 employees from Coca-Cola Egypt along with their families had registered.

On Saturday, registration continued to come in, with scores of activists and concerned citizens getting behind the Tweetback initiative once again.

The tweetback team of 23 of the most followed tweeps on Twitter was instrumental in communicating the challenges faced by Geziret El Dahab residents to their 350,000 followers, said the organizers, led by Rania Helmy.

“Coca-Cola Egypt’s plans to build a school and medical unit, micro-finance women and provide clean drinking water for Geziret El Dahab residents features prominently in Coca-Cola’s priority list for the island’s development,” the statement said.

“Giving back to our communities, engaging volunteers in development and interacting with residents of the villages in need is of primary importance for Coca-Cola in Egypt. We would like to spread a culture civic engagement and in doing so create leaders who are willing to help others and make tomorrow better”, said Ghada Makady, Senior Manager, Public Affairs and Communications in Coca-Cola.

December 10 also saw journalists, radio and TV presenters, graffiti artists, volunteers, bloggers, activists and one of Egypt’s most popular bands, CairoKee, join forces to deliver what organizers said was an inspiring day that shows Egyptians can band together to help develop areas of underprivilage.

The day ended with a concert for the island’s residents.

“Volunteers gave back by repainting a nursery and cleaning up a garbage dump that was transformed into a green football pitch by the end of the day. Talented graffiti artists also volunteered their time to graffiti the pillars around the football pitch and were joined by the community’s children, whose willingness to help by distributing brooms, pushing wheel barrows, moving grass and mixing paint,” said the Tweetback group. They added thae volunteering had a “sense of engagement and attachment to the island’s residents.”

“I am so excited to be here and would like to thank Coca-Cola and tweetback for giving me the opportunity to give back and be part of something so great. It’s incredible what a few hours of hard team work can do”, said Amr Mansour, one of the volunteers who was tasked with painting the nursery.

Geziret El Dahab residents are excited about the work that is going to be done. “Real work will now commence in Geziret El Dahab by micro-financing ten families. Soon after, Coca-Cola Egypt will work with the Egyptian Food Bank and Sonna’ El Hayat NGO to upgrade and provide services as per the community’s needs.”

“We have done it before and we will do it again. Tweetback is here to serve communities in need. We’ll use our influence to raise funds, mobilize volunteers and spread awareness about many forgotten communities. We’re here to help companies like Coca-Cola who want to do good and will continue to do so in the future”, said Mahmoud Salem, founder of tweetback.